The rule about not allowing photos of ourselves is being relaxed in a new part of the photo forums called 'Family, Friends and Me'. One of the reasons for not allowing this in the past was written in a previous post and that still stands for Photo-a-Day. However, there is sometimes a wish to show photos of ourselves, family or friends and now it can be done. Photos can be taken by family or friends and displayed in the new forum. Just a few points to observe or think about before posting;

1. Please only show photos that you are happy for the World to see. Photos of ourselves, children, family and friends can be seen by anyone passing by as well as the membership here.

2. Please make sure that all family or friends shown in photos consent to having their picture placed on the Internet.

3. In particular, children in photographs MUST belong to the member, or specific permission MUST have been obtained by the child's parents before displaying their photograph here. Possible exceptions to this being:

* Very young fully clad babies being shown off by proud Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles.

* Children in a group situation where the child isn't a specific subject of the photo. For instance, if you take a photo of your child winning a race in the school sports, perhaps you wouldn't need to ask each parent whose child is in the photo. However, you wouldn't identify the school so that the children were at risk.

4. Remember this is a family site, so no scantily clad glamour or hunk photos please.

5. I can't think that family or friends photos would have copyright issues but we always look out for that in all photos shown in the photo forums just in case.

6. As with Photo-a-Day, please only post one photo per day. The same photo size limit applies.

From the above, it might be seen why personal photos haven't been particularly encouraged up to now. There are pitfalls to be thought about. If any photograph does give rise to doubt, it may have to be temporarily removed while enquiries are made (it can always be reinstated later). Nonetheless, we are trying to make it possible to post personal photos since it seems members might like to show shots of themselves, friends and family. Please just consider the points mentioned here before posting and we hope all will be well.

Comment welcome here.

Thanks

Thank you for welcoming additional comments.

Just a note, photographers never need releases when the subject is not identifiable (example: their face does not show), or it is a shot of a "large" public crowd with many people in it.

I belong to an online group whose policy is not to post pictures of babies or children under a certain legal age. The reason? Over time, many people post enough information about their children without realizing it:
Their names, where they live (for example, their city, state, etc). Photos of their neighbourhoods, their homes, rooms, what and where the children play sports,go to school, etc. etc. With the number of "nuts" out there it doesn't take them long to create a whole profile.

We considered that we had a duty to protect those who could not protect themselves (particularly babies) more important than "showing off" our young ones. Some points to consider perhaps as you flesh out your guidelines.

I think it is difficult to find an acceptable balance between being over-protective and allowing members the freedom to post family photos if they want to. As with other aspects of life, parents and guardians do make decisions on behalf of their children. None would want to put them in danger and therefore wouldn't post baby/children photos if they thought they were doing so. Nonetheless, it is best that members read comments such as you have made in order to make their own informed decisions.